My name is Matthew and this is my blog. It's a personal blog and isn't affiliated with any of the companies I work for or have worked for in the past. Just to get that out of the way.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Don't talk politics and don't throw stones.

This is going to be a political one because I’ve been reading the news stories and am somewhat exasperated.

In America things seem to be going increasingly wrong. The people of Pennsylvania recently voted to the effect that they didn’t want to teach the theory of “intelligent design” before the theory of evolution in schools. This is something I’m quite pleased about, but I’m not about to follow in the footsteps of all those other people who in various columns and blogs suggested that perhaps the theory of gravity should only be taught after that of “intelligent falling.” What is bothering me is that a US Christian Evangelist has advised the people of Pennsylvania not to ask for God’s help if there is ever some sort of natural disaster in that region because the voters have “rejected Him” from the state. I half expected him to add “but YOU can be saved if you simply call my hotline now and pledge a donation of at least $300 to the church of the Latter Day Morons…” What happened to those parts of the Christian Bible which preached God’s forgiveness? Is this guy trying to say that anyone who lives in an area that has been affected by a natural disaster has obviously annoyed God in some way? Perhaps we should also go back to offering our first born in sacrifice so that the crops will grow next year. And just to confirm, it’s not anything to do with, say, building cities above the gap between tectonic plates or 5-10 feet below sea level?

Then San Francisco decided that they possibly want to vote against military recruiting in high schools and colleges. Again this seems quite reasonable to me. Bill O’Reilly, presenter on Fox News, suggested that if the vote is passed to ban military recruiting “if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.” Good to see the right-wing advising terrorists.

My favourite story in this vein, however, I have to credit to another blog for an excellent compilation of quotes. In a speech as part of the USA Veteran’s Day, George W. Bush said that “it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began.” Mr Red Rag, meet Mr Bull…

George W. Bush, 7th November 2002:“Hopefully, we can do this peacefully -- don't get me wrong. And if the world were to collectively come together to do so, and to put pressure on Saddam Hussein and convince him to disarm, there's a chance he may decide to do that. ... And war is not my first choice “

George W. Bush, 11th November 2005:“"It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began...More than 100 Democrats in the House and Senate who had access to the same intelligence voted to remove Saddam Hussein from power,"”